Construction World September 2018

COMMENT

The Annual Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS) Conference, which this year took place on 2 August, is a one day conference with speakers whose messages are not only relevant for the QS profession, but to the construction industry as a whole. This year’s speakers ranged from professional adventurer Peter von Ketz to strategic specialist Dr Andrew Brough to Oscar von Memerty who inspired with his message of success against the gravest of odds. The South African construction industry is in largely negative terrain – especially the civils industry. I recently attended talks organised by AfriSam and another by PPC where economists (respectively David Metelerkamp and Dr Roelof Botha) painted a picture of an industry that is at the mercy of the political status quo in the country. Context is the new currency is what Lynette Ntuli, one of the speakers at the ASAQS Conference and CEO of Innate Investment Solution defined the status quo to be. The volatile context, where the Rand can nosedive in a matter of hours, is something that we have become accustomed to. We have swung into ‘Ramaphoria’ and quickly swung out of it – with the realisation that it is going to take more than mere sentiment to steady this ship. Furthermore, the sad reality is that everything has now become political: water, health, education, safety, etc. The related infrastructure for these is no longer a basic human need, but an expression of power. The irony is that the construction industry holds the largest potential for job growth of all industries in South Africa –

Seth Godin, creator of the concept ‘the purple cow’, used the phrase to describe how companies stand out from the crowd. What is your company’s ‘purple cow’?

especially important in a country with rampant unemployment. Craig Lemboe, a senior economist at the Bureau for Economic Research (who compiles the BER Consumer Confidence Index), says that the only way the country’s construction industry (and industries in general) will return to growth, will be through the return of private investment, improved political sentiment, rebalancing the approach to transformation, ensuring that growth is labour-intensive and obviously through improving the education system. The latter has been the ruling party’s greatest failure. Turbulence has become the norm and only one characteristic leads to success … grit. It is up to the individuals and companies that make up the built environment to determine how this turbulent time will be survived so that when the tide turns they can take advantage of a more positive environment. Change, both good and bad, is happening rapidly and the industry has to be resilient. Agility and adaptability is the only way to achieve a sustainable model – for a company, a profession and an industry. The ASAQS sees its main goal as preserving and enhancing the QS profession by maintaining professional ethics, integrity and high standards. Larry Feinberg, Executive Director of the ASAQS said that growth (for the Association, but this can be applied to all professions in the built environment) must be sustained and measurable and that is why the Association set a strategic plan in place a few years ago as clients rely on a QS to stay competitive, vital in the current climate. Part of this plan was to actively advocate and market the QS profession. In this regard, Lynette Ntuli used the phrase “if you are not sitting at the table, you are on the menu”, emphasising the importance of being part of the discussion, for now and in future. The overriding message, for me, of the Conference was the concept of the ‘purple cow’ – a phrase coined by Seth Godin. Now is the time for companies within the industry to define what makes them stand out, what makes them intrinsically different. Until now it has mainly been price, but this is

Crown Publications received the Publisher of the Year Award (trade publications) at the 2018 Consulting Engineers South Africa Engineering Excellence Awards. Seen here are (from left): Christopher Campbell (CESA CEO), Karen Grant (Crown Publications’ Publisher) and Wilhelm du Plessis (Deputy Publisher and Editor of Construction World).

not sustainable. Wilhelm du Plessis Editor

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD SEPTEMBER 2018